Just a little theft

It's not a "big deal."

It goes unnoticed by most.

We are told to "find a rabbi" and follow the rabbi's lead.

But while we are told to "find a rabbi" - actually "get yourself a teacher (rav)" (Joshua ben Perachicah, Avot, 1:6) we are not told to "follow blindly."

It is a two-way street.

I am fortunate enough to have several books on halakah. Almost without exception, a ruling is followed by the details of how the rav arrived at his decision. This is what Maran wrote, this is what Ramba"m wrote, this is what Rem"a added, on and on. Each time an author is cited, the author of the book I am reading cites exactly WHERE his source made the statement.

The reader knows - because it is there before his or her eyes - who said what and, if the reader cares to check it out, exactly where to look - book, chapter, and verse.

Occasionally I'll have a question and I'll ask a living source, often an on-line rabbi since in theory at least they have access to and use that access to pass my query along to rabbinical Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

But I find that the answers I receive from many are "this is the way it is, accept that."

Each generation has its "poskim b'dor," rabbis whose rulings are generally, if not universally, accepted. Recent personages who fall into this category, at least for Ashkenazi Jews, include Moshe Feinstein, Yosef Soloveitchek, while for Mizrachim there is Ovadya Yosef and for Sephardim of North Africa, the Messas and Abuhatzera dynasties. The list is hardly "all-inclusive."

I can pull from the shelf works by the North African poskim and each one CITES HIS SOURCE.

Aside from lending credence to their works, these gentlemen prove they are not thieves.

We are told in The Big Ten that stealing is prohibited. We also are told to return a lost item to its owner.

As a former newspaper reporter, I consider plagiarism stealing.

As it happens, US civil law also considers plagiarism stealing.

If you take the property of another - physical or intellectual - that's stealing.

Understandably, because we all have at least a little vanity, we don't object - at least not enthusiastically - if someone cites our thoughts PROVIDING CREDIT IS GIVEN THE THOUGHT'S ORIGINATOR.

Ramb"am, the story goes, was roundly criticized for failing, in one of his works, to "cite his source." Ramb"am having to "cite his source?" Apparently inquiring minds of his age wanted to know.

I confess to sometimes taking things too far. When someone tells me "the Talmud says" I usually have two questions: which one and what is the Torah (bik-tav) source.

I don't challenge the authority of poskim such as Ramb"am or Maran, but I want to know how they arrived at their decision.

If I insist on challenging the "gedoli b'dor" (giants of the age) you can imagine that I take umbrage when I'm told "this is the way it is, accept that."

I visited a synagogue Web site the other day and read an article on mezuzah klaf, specifically when to check it.

Interesting article. Nothing new.

But the article cited "poskim" and "rabbis." Not one name.

I wrote a note to a rabbi friend noting this.

He replied that the original article cited the sources and the article could be found at such-and-such a Web site.

I went to the site and sure enough, the authorities were cited.

In a copyrighted article - the copyright statement appeared several times on the Web page.

I contend that the synagogue management is guilty of theft - plagiarism, in fact, blatant plagiarism given the bold copyright notices.

The synagogue management "stole" from the article's originator and it, indirectly, stole from the poskim and rabbis cited in the article.

Is this "theft" OK because "everyone does it?"

I don't think so.

Unlike some, I don't hold rabbis and hazans - professional Jews - to a higher standard, but I DO expect them to set an example for us - the "average" Jew.

We - Jews - are charged to be "ore l'goyim," a light to the nations.

We ARE held to a higher standard, by ourselves and certainly by the goyim.

A quick aside. I never understood how "goy" became a term of derision.

Abraham was told he would be father to a "goy gadol," a great nation (for which we still long).

Non-Jewish individuals were never, in Bik-tav, "goyim"; they were nok'rim.

We "elect" our leadership and our leadership - the board - "elects" the professional leadership, our rabbis and hazans akin to the Electoral College's election of the president.

We need to elect professional Jews who hold themselves to a higher standard and who will be an example to us, the average Jew.

In the Greater Picture, plagiarism is a minor issue; hardly on par with murder or rape.

But, at least as this scrivener sees it, plagiarism IS theft and theft is forbidden.

Ore l'goyim.

yohanon